Month: December 2013

If you are feeling burned out, read this inspiring book by Steven Layne. He makes you feel exciting about teaching. The book offers many easy to use suggestions to get students to love reading. The book is filled with examples of reading surveys, book chat guide lines and “stories from the trenches,” helpful hints from the “real world.”

This is not really a book for teens but if you could get them to read even one chapter they might think twice before popping that bag of chips in their mouths instead of some healthier choices. As a librarian, I always see what the students are snacking on. Their food choices only serves to make the large corporations richer, but it does nothing for giving them the important nutrition they need in their growing years.

This is a great book to teach students about what it was like for the children placed on “Orphan trains” between 1854 and 1929. These innocent children were transported from New York City and brought to the mid west.

Christina Baker recreates the story of one child, Vivian Daly, an Irish immigrant whose parents were killed in a fire after they resettled in New York City. Her story is interspersed with the story of Molly, a 17 year old Penobscot Indian who is a foster child herself and is required by law to perform community service at Vivian’s home during the present time. The story flips back and forth between today and Vivian’s early life as Molly helps Vivian reveal her past and help both of them heal.